Renting an apartment directly from owner?

[vhy]

Hi all.. I am new to this forum and finding the information/ discussion here is very useful and informative. Really apprecaited of all the expats who have put the efforts here to make our life of settling to Dubai much more easier.

I will be arriving sometime in the next two weeks and start to doing some research on the apartment hunt.

As most of the feedback/ comments of the real estate agents of Dubai are negative and no good.. and they are charging a 5% of the annual rent!!
I dont mind to pay the agent fees if they are delivering our request properly.. but unfortunately this is not the case... I would prefer spend the 5% on myself or buy every expats here for a drink on the night out.

Is there any chance that I could get contact with the owners for the studio/ apartment and deal with them directly? Any expats here had such experience? Will I get into any troubles of the rental issue if not deal by an agent?

[Elphaba]

There is no legal reason why you shouldn't deal with a landlord direct - providing you can get in touch. The vast majority of properties are let through agents as the tenant pays their fees. You may find some ads directly from property owners in Gulf News or in Dubizzle, but I wouldn't bank on it.

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